It’s been 19 days since John Greyson and Tarek Loubani were arrested and thrown in an Egyptian prison. The film director and the doctor were travelling to Gaza when they were caught up in the civil unrest and have been held ever since.

To raise awareness of the two Canadians’ plight, friends, family and other concerned Canadians are urging visitors to the film festival to wear buttons saying “Free Tarek and John.”

On Wednesday night actress and director Sarah Polley handed out buttons at the pre-TIFF party for the Toronto Film Critics Association. She has also asked press covering the festival to urge stars to wear a button and tweet pictures. In a tweet Thursday morning she said, “We will see the #tiff13 programmers wearing Free John and Tarek buttons on stage starting tomorrow. Thanks so much guys!”